If you talk about operating systems from the Microsoft brand, then Windows XP is a clear winner. It has the powers that no other operating systems from Microsoft have ever had. It is perhaps the most secure and sophisticated OS released by Microsoft. I have worked on Windows 98SE, Windows Millennium and Windows 2000 Server in the past so I can give brief analysis and compare these operating systems with XP.
The Background
When Microsoft launched Windows 95 in 1995, it brought about a revolution in desktop computing. It was simple, easy and user-friendly, which was quite unlike the operating systems of the past. Soon, upgrades were needed and thus came about Windows 98 and later on the Millennium. But Millennium turned out to be a disaster for Microsoft, as it was loaded with unfixed bugs. Thus was born the Windows XP, which saw the convergence of the Win98 technology with Win2000. While Windows 98 was known for its user-friendliness, WinNT was known for its stability and security. These features were brought together in Windows 2000 and later enhanced with Windows XP.
The Configuration Needed
Although I don’t know the minimum configuration required to run XP (apologies for not doing the proper research), but my guess is that any computer with a processor of 400MHz or above is suitable along with a minimum of 64MB of RAM and 4GB of Hard-Disk. But in these days of P-4 and AMD Athlon, these configurations look like aadi maanav ke zamaane ki. I would suggest that a processor of anything above 1GHz and 256MB RAM is the best for running XP. Another important factor that might be worth noting is the file-system. XP can run on both FAT32 and NTFS. If you are using your computer as a dual-boot system with Win98/ME and XP on different partitions, then FAT32 is the best configuration. But if your system is going to have only one operating system, then NTFS suits you the best. NTFS is highly regarded as a stable file-system and it has been the reason for WinNT’s success. It suits you best if you are into software and application development.
The Operating System
The installation is simple, and can be easily done in an interactive way. You can choose which components to install. The installation, depending on your computer’s configuration can take anything between 30 minutes to 2 hours. You can create as many users as you like and can apply 2 levels of security to them – one being a common user having limited privileges and the other being the computer administrator. You can even assign passwords to them. You can change the way your Desktop and Start Menu appear. I have found that changing the desktop to classic theme saves a lot of memory and makes the system work faster. It is all your decision. While I go for faster processing speed, you may want to enhance the aesthetics of your desktop by using the modern XP theme.
Windows XP has plug and play support for a wide range of hardware. Depending on the hardware you have on your PC, you may not even need to install the right type of drivers for them. But if you still need to install drivers, then it is highly recommended by Microsoft that you use XP certified drivers. These driver soft wares are digitally certified by Microsoft for suitable functioning of Windows XP.
At the time of XP’s release, Internet Explorer 6 was a new product in the market and was regarded as a very secure browser. But with time, this claim of Microsoft has taken a dent and now IE6 is getting stiff competition from Firefox. Nevertheless, today there are lots of websites and portals which require you to use browsers that support 128-bit SSL. In simpler terms, you must say goodbye to IE5 and say hello to IE6.
These are, of course, only a few of the many good things about XP. A complete write-up about all the good things about XP is beyond the scope of this review.
The Issues
Off late, Windows XP has been attacked by many hackers who have taken advantage of some of its vulnerabilities. I got a Sasser worm attack some months back, and I could save my PC only by downloading a security patch from Windows Update. Moral of the story – always keep your PC updated to plug any security holes.
Although Windows XP is regarded as a good OS for gaming softwares and devices, I have found that there are some games which have issues with it. Though I am not much into gaming, the few games that I tried to install crashed on my PC.
There are issues with some hardware devices too. For instance, I have a scanner that was purchased in 2000. I didn’t have the driver for it, so I looked up the Internet and found out that its XP certified driver was not available on its manufacturer’s website. I had to contend myself by downloading the driver for Windows 2000, and after a few hiccups, it is working well.
One very big issue with XP is its Activation Process. What happens if you have to reformat your hard-drive and re-install XP? You have to re-activate the product with Microsoft, either by Internet, or via telephone, by calling their call-center. To a home user, and to a developer, this is a hassle that they would like to do away with.
The Future
Microsoft has promised to launch the next version of Windows in 2006 by the name of Longhorn. This new version will also see a new version of Internet Explorer and updates to few built-in utilities, plus few additions about which Microsoft is tight-lipped as of now. A glimpse of what is to come can be seen in Windows XP Service Pack 2, which is full of new goodies and enhancements to older utilities. I am told that its new firewall is a much more enhanced version of what was available initially with XP.
The Conclusion
XP so far has been the best from the Microsoft stable. It is suited equally well for both normal home user and application developers. Overall, it’s a Thumb’s Up in favor of XP. But Microsoft is getting stiff competition from the Linux community (owing to its concept of open-source). The speed of improvements in Linux is so fast that it is hard to keep pace with it and Microsoft will need to do some hard thinking before they release the next version of Windows.